tl:dr -- Has anyone used MatterControl? Did the Z axis not set correctly? Did you find a fix?

Hi all,

After a hiatus from printing, I've been playing around a bit lately, and have been looking at how best to organize my workflow.

A bit of info: if you run Linux, as I do, you have to be a bit careful about versions of your OS: I run Ubuntu, and keep up with OS versions, which has broken both my replicatorG and Makerware desktop version. They start and then crash the moment I try to open an .stl file. It may be possible that Makerware will revise their linux version to run under the more recent Linux versions, but I'm not all that hopeful. ReplicatorG, well, I think that's not going to be updated before the heat death of the universe

So, I have been looking at options.

I have been successful at running slic3r, which seems to produce good results for me. However, I would prefer to connect to my printer and print out of the desktop app, and I now have to generate my .x3g file with gpx and load it onto an SD card.

I know, printing off an SD card is what most folks recommend, but I prefer to stay connected and print out of the desktop, and that's not likley to change.

So, since replicatorG is essentially a dinosaur and likely to be extinct to new OSen, and Makerware has their own problems and can't be counted on, I started looking for options.

One option I found is MatterControl, which has a linux version and which connects to the Flashforge Creator Pro (and PowerSpec clone), and prints directly from the application.

It does connect, I can set all my options, and though the slicer is rather slow and doesn't offer any kind of progress indicator that I can see, does complete and try to print.

However, it doesn't seem to set the Z axis. It moved the print head and then started to print the calibration object I selected, with the bed at full bottom position.

Has anyone in here tried MatterControl, and figured out how to work it? I'm thinking it might be something in the gcode, and will look there, but I thought I might ask the collective as well.

I'll follow up as I get any info on this.

Cheers,

John